Nearly three-out-of-four voters (73%) believe it is at least somewhat likely that the new health care law will cause some companies to drop health insurance coverage for their employees, including 47% who say it is Very Likely. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds that just 19% think that’s unlikely.

While 84% of Mainstream voters it is at least somewhat likely that some companies will drop health insurance coverage for their employees, most Political Class voters (52%) say that is not likely to occur (see more on the Political Class-Mainstream divide).

To address the reality of some companies threatening to drop coverage, the Obama administration announced last week that 30 companies and organizations - including McDonalds and the union for New York City teachers - have been granted one-year waivers from certain requirements of the new national health care law.

But voters don’t think such waivers are the way to go. Only 21% believe it is better for the government to grant business exemptions to the health care law on a case-by-case basis. Sixty-four percent (64%) disagree and say the better course is for the law to be revised so that it can apply to all businesses. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Similarly, 64% think if a group of large companies receives an exemption from certain aspects of the health care law, all businesses should be given that same exemption. Only 19% disagree, with 18% more who are not sure.

The survey of 1,000 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on October 10-11, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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